THE SCHOOLS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19802, 18 May 1934, Page 5

THE SCHOOLS

EXCLUSION OF FIVE-YEAR-OLDS MINISTER REPLIES TO CRITICISM By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, May 17. A spirited reply to criticism of the Government in excluding five-year-olds from the schools was made by the Minister of Education (Hon. R. Masters, M.L.C.), this evening, when a deputation placed before him a number of resolutions passed recently by school committees in Wellington province. The Minister outlined the reasons for the Government’s policy, and said that it had never occurred to him that any child was going to suffer moral deterioration as a result of being at home with its mother. Some very extravagant statements had been made as to the effect exclusion from school was likely to have upon children under the age of six. It had even been suggested by a speaker at the recent conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute held in Wellington that the system encouraged child slavery. What was worse was that nobody had refuted the suggestion which was a direct insult to farmers. Members of the Auckland Headmasters’ Association, the Minister said, had alleged that-the change would result in an increase in juvenile delinquency. “Now if these people would only come out and be straight and honest, and say this affects the grading of our schools as well as our salaries, and we want the thing altered, we would know where we stood,” said Mr Masters. “Instead of doing that, however, they wrap their argument up in a different kind of stuff. If they are embarking on an agitation for an increase in salary, well, let us have it.” Scheme Worth a Trial. Mr Masters said that he did not think it could be claimed from the medical point of view that children were suffering an injustice by being kept out of the schools until they had reached the age of six. The Department felt that the experiment was worth a trial, and it was too early yet to come to a decision as to whether It was a success or a failure. It had been freely stated that since the change was made children were going into private schools by the hundred. A voice: That is quite true. Mr Masters said that statistics proved otherwise. The records showed that there were 44 private registered schools in Wellington and Marlborough provinces, and it was interesting to find that in the infant classes there were 195 children less than there were last year. This, he thought, was an effective reply to the argument that the private schools were being overcrowded.